Japanese Auto Transplants in the Heartland by Robert Perrucci

Author:Robert Perrucci [Perrucci, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Business & Economics, Management, International, General, Industries
ISBN: 9780202366982
Google: Oomxx4lJoOgC
Publisher: Transaction Publishers
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

The remainder of the story describes events of the parade, the number of veterans’ groups that marched to the park, but broke ranks before entering the park, and the comments of bystanders. An editorial the following day (May 30) is very critical of the veterans, stating that “some of what they have said and done smacks of racism.”

On July 13 the newspaper featured a story “Ota Drive Stance Changes,” which discusses the mayor’s plan to ask the city council to reverse the name change at a special meeting on July 23. He called upon city residents and civic organizations for suggestions of alternative streets that could be given the name of Lafayette’s sister city. As part of the story, the newspaper has a special boxed form labeled “What to Name Ota” and calls on readers to use the form to send suggestions to the newspaper. The form states that the paper will publish the list of suggested ideas.

On July 15 the paper editorialized “Get New Ota City Drive Ready,” calling upon the city council to select a new location for the street before the old one is dropped. The editorial mentions two possible locations, which were what was suggested by veterans groups months ago at the start of the controversy.

On July 16, a final editorial on the subject states: “Larger Issues Than Ota Drive,” and suggests that the Ota City Drive issue pales by comparison with the other major issues facing “modern-day Lafayette.” The editorial calls for public input and government action in dealing with street repair, sewage treatment, environmental clean-up, police/fire protection, and affordable housing. These are certainly issues that affect a broad segment of the community, and about which there is likely to be greater unanimity than was found in the Ota City Drive controversy.

The point of this issue is that political officials and the newspaper devoted considerable resources to trying to overcome opposition to an action by the mayor and city council that had great symbolic significance for veterans’ groups and other residents. The newspaper chose to associate some of the opponents with racism and Japan-bashing. Political leaders and newspaper editors refused to give legitimacy to the concerns of veterans’ groups because they didn’t want their community to be tainted with a redneck image. Interviews with representatives of veterans’ groups conducted by the author revealed the kind of patriotism often associated with working-class veterans—a genuine reverence for certain symbols that they believe have great meaning, and that can be damaged or destroyed by association with the proposed name change. Perhaps an old-fashioned kind of patriotism, even naive in the 1990s, but hardly racism. The veterans also seemed genuine in their suggestions of alternative sites for Ota City Drive, which if acted upon by city officials would have avoided the entire controversy.

The effort to discredit veterans’ groups who publicly opposed actions to further the corporatist project in Indiana is similar to the media coverage of public protests by organized labor in Kentucky and Tennessee. The Indiana protest was

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